Being a board game fanatic is hard. You spent thousands on buying huge boxes of games that you need to find storage for. Not to even mention players willing to take the time to learn and play a game that could take a couple of hours at a time to get through. Even so, we’re a dedicated bunch and seeing more people find love for board games is a beautiful thing. So that’s why I’m pretty excited to finally see the release of Catan VR today.
Catan is an award-winning strategy game that relies on you trying to be the first to get to 10 victory points by taking resources, trading them, and building settlements. The game has been translated to a couple of digital versions before now, but obviously, virtual reality offers an experience that’s more akin to the real thing.
So Experiment 7 (Magic Table Chess) has been toiling away diligently at the fields of Catan to create a well-made virtual translation of Klaus Teuber’s settlement-building tabletop game for Oculus Rift and Gear VR. Now the day has finally arrived when everyone can see the product of their work, since the game is set to release on the Oculus Store today.
Catan VR supports up to four player cross-platform play, as well as single-player against AI. The developers have also allowed for co-op games where AI can fill in the seats if necessary. So if you and a friend decide to play together you won’t have to look around for other players if you don’t want to. “Cross mobile/PC play is one of the features I’m most excited about. Hand movement is obviously more limited (standard GearVR controller system), but it translates surprisingly well. We also have a few ninjas that have kept the mobile fidelity very high, so it should be just as fun on either platform,” on of the developers said in a Reddit post.
Check out this 360-degree video of Catan VR below:
Since the game takes place in a virtual world, you will be able to choose between the two rooms currently available – a Viking long hall with a striking view and a Japan-inspired room lined with shoji screens. The game would also not be complete without player avatars of course, and each person will be able to choose between various masks, including an African tribal mask, Mexican Day of the Dead mask, fox mask, and Viking mask amongst others. Which adds a little quirk to Catan VR and does not go unappreciated – since the social aspect of the game is just as important as the game itself.
If you checked out the 360-degree video above, you’ll maybe have noticed that the pieces of the board have little animations going on – something that helps bring the board game to life in a new way. It’s hard to make out, exactly, but there seem to be birds flying around, sheep running over grass, and windmills gently turning.
So all in all, we can’t wait to try this game for ourselves and see if it does the original justice – we sure hope so! If you’re excited to try this too then make sure to head on over to the Oculus Store today. Maybe we’ll even team up for a spirited session to see who wins!
Catan VR will become available on the Oculus Store today for Oculus Rift at $14.99 and Gear VR at $9.99.
